Abstract: Based on the remote sensing cover data MOD10A2 and reflectance data MOD09A1 from 2001 to 2013 over the arid area of Central Asia, the temporal and spatial variation of snow cover, the annual and inter-annual change trend of snow distribution, and the snow distribution change with latitude were studied to understand the historical change of snow coverage in the arid area of Central Asia. Results show as follows: (1)The largest snow-covered year was 2008 and the smallest one occurred in 2004 in the arid area of Central Asia; the maximum range of snow coverage was from 51.40% to 76.40% and the minimum range was from 0.86% to 1.5%; the fluctuation of maximum snow coverage was more intense than that of minimum snow coverage.(2)Plain areas were the main distribution areas of snow cover. The increase of snow cover is presented from high latitude to low in winter, while from high altitude to low altitude in the mountain area.(3)The snow cover duration has a universal increasing trend in the arid area of Central Asia from 2001 to 2013. Taking the arid area of Central Asia as a whole, the slope of average change rate of snow covering duration was 0.06, and the increased, invariant and decreased area proportions were respectively 62.9%, 3.1% and 34.0%.(4)The inter-annual rate of snow coverage change showed an increasing trend in low-altitude region and the change range became smaller with the increasing of latitude; the inter-annual rate of snow coverage change showed a decreasing trend as a whole, and the snow coverage of Kunlun Mountains and Pamirs located in low-latitudes showed a relatively larger fluctuation than that of Tianshan Mountains and Altai Mountains located in mid-latitudes and high-latitudes, respectively. Snow cover is a very important physical factor for climate prediction in arid area of Central Asia and it is the most important way of water resource supply. It is of great significance to strengthen research in this field for improving the accuracy of climate forecasting in the arid area of Central Asia, and the climate changing from warm-dry to warm-humid is proved in the arid area of Central Asia.

Key words: arid area of Central Asia, temporal variation, spatial characteristics, inter-annual variation, latitude